By: John Goodman, Sally Hurley, Thomas Hollmann and Scott M. Broetzmann
Researchers have correctly focused the bulk of customer experience (CX) measurement resources on the dissatisfied end of the continuum. John Goodman and Marc Grainer of Customer Care Measurement & Consulting’s (CCMC) team led the original White House-sponsored research in the 1974-1984 time frame on complaint-handling.1,2 Business Week noted that, “Sparked by some landmark studies commissioned by the White House Office of Consumer Affairs….a new attitude has been born….” Our models included quantification of the payoff of improved loyalty and for winning new customers via word of mouth (WOM) using broad, conservative assumptions. B. Joseph Pine and James Gilmore, in their book “Experience Economy,” initiated scrutiny of the other end of the spectrum: delight. They tell of the Nordstrom store where a woman demands and is given a refund for tires not bought at Nordstrom (she bought them at a tire store that used to be at that location). Finance executives suggest that a refund in that case was inappropriate.
